Workers install plumbing at a housing development at the El Cerrito BART Station on March 4. The state is encouraging housing at transit hubs, but funding for the public transportation they require is at risk.

I have a car but rarely use it. Because I am fortunate enough to live near transit, I take it just about everywhere I go. My BART commute takes less time, costs less money and results in far less greenhouse gas emissions than driving would. Yet California spends the vast majority of its transportation funds facilitating the latter option rather than the more sustainable, cost-effective one. 

The state of California spent $30.9 billion for transportation-related programs in 2025-26. Roughly one-sixth of that went toward public transit, passenger rail and active transportation. 

California air regulators just redirected billions from the state’s cap-and-invest program (which collects fees from oil and fossil fuel companies and distributes them among projects and agencies that reduce pollution) that many advocates expected would continue supporting public transportation, affordable housing and other greenhouse gas reduction programs. 

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Where will that money go now? Mostly toward free emissions permits that could benefit oil refineries, manufacturers and other large industrial facilities. 

According to Laura Tolkoff, transportation policy director at the urban think tank SPUR, transit dollars are always first on the chopping block in tight budget years, resulting in a funding stream that “is completely unpredictable.”

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